The Buyout - Bru Baker This review can be found at The Armchair Reader.

This was an adorably fun read! Revolving around Parker and his ambitions to lead Anderson Industries when his father eventually retires. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned for him when he learns that not only does he not get a promotion but his father is planning to sell the company, effectively leaving dozens of employees out of work. Having just met Mason and starting a slow relationship, now Parker and Mason, along with Parker’s cousin, Anna, and a few others are doing everything they can to blindside Parker’s father into a buyout. With all the time and energy put into the buyout, the question remains will they even be able to pull it off?

I’m going to be honest, my favorite character was definitely Mason! He’s so cute and I loved his geek speak. The banter between Parker and Mason had me smiling like crazy with their geeky version of pick up lines. More than anything, I loved their IM chats and their sense of humor. I liked Parker because he was a sweet man, although at times I felt like he was a bit self-centered, especially in the beginning. As the story progressed, I warmed up to him more and ended up loving his way of trying to win over Mason. While the characters don’t have much depth to them, there’s still enough there to enjoy their interactions, IMO. The secondary characters were even more fun. They all had distinct personalities but had moments of childish fun. While you see bits and pieces of Mason and Parker’s relationship, I feel like I should warn readers that there wasn’t as much romance as it seems. Stretches of time are centered on the lead up to the buyout and during that time, it almost felt like Mason and Parker were just friends instead of a fledgling couple. Although, the beginning does have a healthy dose of it that will sure make you laugh a few times over how badly Parker messes things up.

My only issue with this one was the fact that it felt rushed. Pieces of time are glossed over, which put the reader (i.e. me) at a disadvantage of getting to know better both the characters and the outcome of the buyout. Even with the little twist, I missed the fact that we didn’t actually get to live what I consider the climax of the story, the big suspense that the whole book was leading up to. More than that, because it is glossed over, we are told what conspired after the fact. I’ll be honest, since I didn’t get to ‘see’ certain things happen, it dimmed my enjoyment slightly. It happened on more than one occasion during the lead up to the buyout and I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed when I learned something I felt was crucial was skipped over and then briefly told about. I wanted actual scenes, the meaty business, so I could have immersed myself into the whole conflict, instead of just skimming the surface of it.

Overall, I really loved this story. It’s the type of read that has funny banter with lovable characters that will put a smile on your face… at least it did mine. I loved the concept of the book but I just wish it had more depth to it, expanded to fill in the blanks that pop up throughout the story. Even still, if you’re looking for something that is cute, fast and fun you’ll enjoy this one as much as I did, I bet.